Iron meteorite fall (2869 g) in Zadzim district Poddębice County, Łódź Voivodeship, Poland at 18:53:59 UTC on 17 April 2026
During the night after the instrumentally detected fall Skytinel’s founder Mateusz Żmija began a first analysis of the data provided by 24 Skytinel cameras to determine a preliminary fall area, which was already searched by several people on 19 April, but in vain. To improve the precision of the calculations Skytinel began to cooperate with the Institute of Astronomy of the Czech Academy of Sciences the following day. After their bolide trajectory and dark flight calculations on 22 April Pavel Spurný, Jiří Borovička and Lukáš Shrbený provided information to Skytinel that a single 2.7-kilogram mass could have fallen. Dr. Radmila Brožková from the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute had provided the important high-altitude wind data. With this precise information Mateusz Żmija and Gábor Kővágó re-simulated the impact of a 2.5–3 kg meteorite, which significantly narrowed the search area to approximately 300 x 200 metres. At around 13:30 CEST on 22 April an oriented triangle-shaped 2869-gram meteorite mass (14.5 x 11.5 x 6.5 cm) was found by Anna Walczak and Paweł Walczak, members of a team of up to 26 people associated with the Skytinel network who searched the area on 19 and 22 April. The meteorite was found at the bottom of an approximately 40 cm deep elliptical hole (20 x 10 cm) covered with about 10 centimeters of loose soil. On 24 April 2026 (16:30 CEST) Pavel Spurný, Jiří Borovička and Lukáš Shrbený of the Institute of Astronomy of the Czech Academy of Sciences published the find (LINK) together with Skytinel (LINK). The exact location of the meteorite fall within Zadzim district has not been disclosed yet. It is assumed that only this one meteorite mass fell and that there are most likely no other masses to be found in the area. The quick recovery of the meteorite is another success of the Skytinel camera network and the team of the Institute of Astronomy of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
The iron meteorite mass. Photo: Szymon Kozłowski
Photo: Szymon Kozłowski
Photo: Szymon Kozłowski
Photo: Szymon Kozłowski
Photo: Szymon Kozłowski
Photo: Szymon Kozłowski
The recovery of the meteorite by by Anna Walczak and Paweł Walczak
The meteorite immediately after its recovery. Photo: Paweł Walczak
The meteorite immediately after its recovery. Photo: Paweł Walczak
The impact hole. Photo: Paweł Walczak
The bolide
The meteoroid with a mass of about 100 kilograms began its luminous trail at an altitude of ~84 km with an entry speed of ~13 km/s moving southeast in a relatively steep trajectory (69° to the earth’s surface). The bolide’s almost 7-second luminous trail was about 75 kilometres long, penetrated deep into the atmosphere and ended 14 kilometres above the ground. Reference: (Department of Interplanetary Matter Institute of Astronomy AS CR ) published on 18 April 2026 (14:30 CEST).
3D visualization of the meteoroid’s steep atmospheric trajectory. Image: Mateusz Żmija
The meteoroid’s preatmospheric orbit (turquoise line). Image: Mateusz Żmija
Collection of several Skytinel recordings of the bolide (published on 25 April 2026)
